tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post4674249163503885511..comments2015-03-31T18:04:30.551+01:00Comments on separated by a common language: tutorlynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-89756624585015411182008-02-08T12:26:00.000+00:002008-02-08T12:26:00.000+00:00Harvard College, probably affected by a sort of An...Harvard College, probably affected by a sort of Anglophilism, offers undergraduate tutorials in fields of concentration (called majors in most other universities). Students meet individually or in small groups with tutors (graduate students), and are expected to be more outspoken or creative than in regular (discussion) sections. The sections, in turn, are led by what used to be called section men, but which are now called section persons.<BR/><BR/>At most other universities, sections are led by teaching assistants or teaching fellows, and there are no turors or tutorials. At one university where I studied in the early 70s, we were all changed over the summer from teaching fellows to teaching assistants (or the other way around) so that the university could charge us higher fees without violating its written agreements.Bill Filasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-36188202197451716752007-07-05T23:10:00.000+01:002007-07-05T23:10:00.000+01:00What I hate is "uni" as an abbreviation for "unive...What I hate is "uni" as an abbreviation for "university". I concede it's an efficient abbreviation, saving three syllables, but the word is ugly and childish. In Ireland we used to say "college" as the Americans do, but the excrescence seems to have spread from Australia via the UK, probably through university students distancing themselves from the lesser ITs (institutes of technology). <BR/><BR/>Regarding titles and roles, in Irish universities we have tutorials and tutors [postgrads] as well as lectures and lecturers [faculty]. The grades I think are junior lecturer - senior lecturer - associate professor - professor.mollymoolynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-26512241681289933362007-07-03T18:15:00.000+01:002007-07-03T18:15:00.000+01:00To add to the confusion, some UK universities, lik...To add to the confusion, some UK universities, like <A HREF="http://www.sussex.ac.uk/departments" REL="nofollow"> Sussex </A> are divided up into schools ...terrycollmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01703548364118364764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-24557904984824656612007-07-01T00:48:00.000+01:002007-07-01T00:48:00.000+01:00Lynne wrote:> It sounds oddly childish to my ear. ...Lynne wrote:<BR/>> It sounds oddly childish to my ear. [Calling lectures/seminars "lessons".]<BR/><BR/>In a similar way the American habit of calling university "school" sounds oddly childish to British ears like my own.<BR/><BR/>(While there are degree-giving places that in fact call themselves "School", such as the London School of Economics or the School of Oriental and African Studies, no-one actually refers to those august institutions as "school".)Howardhttp://www.ukusforum.com/index.phpnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-60842269023778254392007-06-30T04:00:00.000+01:002007-06-30T04:00:00.000+01:00The NZ role of 'tutor' seems to be equivalent to w...The NZ role of 'tutor' seems to be equivalent to what my (AmE) university called TAs -- for Teaching Assistants. Sort of a helper-to-the-course's-instructor post, reimbursed at a minimal kind of rate. TAs grade quizzes, often do paperwork, and if there is a 'discussion' section or a 'lab' section to the course (instead of just lectures, which are mostly done by the main instructor), the TA runs those.Eloisehttp://almeda.livejournal.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-86182280404285533932007-06-29T11:30:00.000+01:002007-06-29T11:30:00.000+01:00Troy, that sounds like the terminology that we use...Troy, that sounds like the terminology that we used in South Africa--though we called them <I>tuts</I> rather than <I>tutes</I>.lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-48631603568885869212007-06-29T05:42:00.000+01:002007-06-29T05:42:00.000+01:00The terms that we use in Australia (or at least my...The terms that we use in Australia (or at least my part of Australia) are a bit different. The entire semester-long series of classes is referred to by the university admin people as a course but by everyone else as a subject, mainly because the Vice-Chancellors in this State wanted to make our terminology consistent with what they present as 'international' usage, but no-one else is actually inclined to.<BR/><BR/>Actual classes are either lectures or tutorials (or sometimes labs, etc.) Lectures are exactly what they sound like and tutorials are group discussions varying between 10 to 30 students, in my experience. The person who teaches the lectures is always called the lecturer and only the people who teach tutorials are called tutors.<BR/><BR/>I've never heard any uni classes described as lessons (that sounds like high school to me). I would be most likely to say, 'I have to go to a lecture' or 'I have to go to a tute' but 'I have to go to a class' would be OK, too.Troyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17987766296496827368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-18598651661348830222007-06-28T18:57:00.000+01:002007-06-28T18:57:00.000+01:00The lesson thing reminds me of a time I was in hig...The lesson thing reminds me of a time I was in high school, and friends of mine were in the school play. They referred to "play practice" but the drama teacher/director corrected them - they had <I>rehearsal</I>.<BR/><BR/>I actually came over to tell you about today's <A HREF="http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/004659.html" REL="nofollow">Language Log</A>, which features a political cartoon from Britain, and explains BrE pronunciation of various words beginning with "f" such as "fork", with the r not being pronounced.Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03658570531652539325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-37761216164552741222007-06-28T18:19:00.000+01:002007-06-28T18:19:00.000+01:00"lesson" at uni level is one I hadn't heard. Ugh...."lesson" at uni level is one I hadn't heard. Ugh. As you can see, I quite like "uni" - Australian experience. Most of the attempts I've seen to rationalise uni patois seem to me wrong. For example, I read an American account explaining how traditionally (where? when?) a University could give degrees but a College couldn't. But for the first couple of centuries of its existence the University of Edinburgh was also referred to as "The Tounis College". I believe that the two parts of the University of Aberdeen were originally separate degree-awarding Universities called King's College and Marischall College.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-25191266960522244352007-06-28T17:18:00.000+01:002007-06-28T17:18:00.000+01:00Perhaps it would not be out of place to mention th...Perhaps it would not be out of place to mention the ambiguity that can surround the phrase "taking a class". In the US it seems to mean attending a class as a student - in the UK it could also mean teaching a class. I confused a teacher at an art school where I was doing (BrE)voluntary/(AmE)volunteer work, by asking him if he took many classes at the school.the_sybilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-6680816653694461092007-06-28T16:57:00.000+01:002007-06-28T16:57:00.000+01:00Maxwheeler has it right for the UK I think ... "le...Maxwheeler has it right for the UK I think ... "lessons" is a relatively new usage (10 yrs?) associated with a large increase in student numbers. See also "uni" (ugh).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-29727359236152557192007-06-28T15:49:00.000+01:002007-06-28T15:49:00.000+01:00The use of tutor for other kinds of university ins...The use of <I>tutor</I> for other kinds of university instructors (particularly seminar instructors) is undoubtedly a hold-over from the old days when tutorials were how higher education worked throughout Britain. Now with more universities and more students, the tutorial is a rare beast.<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, another difference to mention here is <I><B>seminar</B></I> to refer to small-group teaching (preferably with lots of student discussion). In the US this is often called a <I><B>discussion section</B></I>. <I>Seminar</I> is used in both countries to refer to other things that <I>seminar</I> refers to...lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-67468806056406557222007-06-28T14:41:00.000+01:002007-06-28T14:41:00.000+01:00There's also the Oxbridge/Durham complication, whe...There's also the Oxbridge/Durham complication, where "tutor" means something else entirely, ie a person (usually a BrE professor) who leads a "tutorial" class of up to a dozen or so students. This is in addition to lecture courses. <BR/><BR/>Ginger YellowChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06103410278129312943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-57549607496678755252007-06-28T11:49:00.000+01:002007-06-28T11:49:00.000+01:00When UK university students talk of "lessons" (rec...When UK university students talk of "lessons" (recte classes, lectures, seminars) they are using a term familiar to them from primary and secondary education. Most, I guess, know it's not quite right, and I've often heard students correct themselves over it.maxwheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08488671125464364189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-41914299486069076912007-06-28T09:34:00.000+01:002007-06-28T09:34:00.000+01:00Tasmansea--the role that you're referring to as su...Tasmansea--the role that you're referring to as supervisor would be called <I>supervisor</I> in the British and American universities I've attended too, though <I>advisor</I> might be used as well in AmE universities. The role that I'm referring to as <I>advisor</I> has nothing to do with theses/dissertations--it's for undergraduate students only, and it's the person who helps the student choose elective courses, discuss career opportunities, and such like. What you're calling a tutor would be a <I>demonstrator</I> at my current university, but a <I>teaching assistant</I> at most US universities. <BR/><BR/>Steph, we covered the school issue back <A HREF="http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/12/citizenship-and-school.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, if you're interested.lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-84211777826837355452007-06-28T06:29:00.000+01:002007-06-28T06:29:00.000+01:00With all this education stuff, I am reminded that ...With all this education stuff, I am reminded that I say, "When I finished school (AmE), I moved to Amsterdam." What I mean is university, but for a long long time I said college (AmE).stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749932791938557725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-12598075962895254042007-06-28T02:25:00.000+01:002007-06-28T02:25:00.000+01:00Having moved from a New Zealand university to a US...Having moved from a New Zealand university to a US one, these are exactly the kinds of terms that I find hardest to consistently use American English for. To be extra confusing, it sounds like the word "tutor" is used in a different way in NZ to how it is used in either US or UK English. In NZ, a tutor is a graduate student / postgrad who provides some kind of supplemental teaching to that given by the lecturer. In psychology at least, this is not a role that seems to exist in the US. NZ tutors take the students for a tutorial (in the arts) or a lab (in the sciences), usually once per week that includes some kind of practical exercise or discussion of course material. There is then a teaching assistant (TA) who is the kind of head tutor and organizes the tutors and does some admin stuff for the course. <BR/><BR/>What in the US would be called an advisor, being the person who oversees your NZ English = thesis, US English = dissertation research, we call a supervisor in NZ, I have never learnt to refer to my NZ supervisor as my "advisor"... an advisor sounds like someone a king has that tells them whether to invade or not.<BR/><BR/>I would never call a lecture a "lesson"... here they call them classes, which is kind of ambiguous because it is used to refer to both the entire semester-long undertaking, and to an individual meeting of the students and lecturer. I guess they are me discussion-based than lecturers in the strict sense, so that word isn't all that appropriate.TasmanSeahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14404616587944704061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-33765653750990403592007-06-28T00:37:00.000+01:002007-06-28T00:37:00.000+01:00The closest match for BrE tutor seems to me to be ...The closest match for BrE <I>tutor</I> seems to me to be AmE <I>instructor</I>, as that is not a rank but a functional description. Not one much used by students, though; it appears on course listings.John Cowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.com